New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

After spending a few months learning how to pan and sluice in the Britanna area, me and my mate Titan decided it was time to branch out a little bit and hit some other places. After some quick internet research (ie paydirt), we headed off on our first adventure up the Waimang for a play. Got permission from one claim owner and tried our luck there. Although the Waimang and Britanna is only seperated by a ridge, the type of gold found is vastly different. The Waimang gold was a lot bigger in size but you really had to go looking for it. The second time we went there, we took a small 1" dredge with us, that only lasted 10 minutes before the jet nozzle blew clean out. Lucky we only had borrowed it and gave the owner a bit of shit for doing a dodgy job on it! We took it out again for the 3rd time only to have a pipe broken on us! No back ups for us! A fast learning curve for us about taking spare parts.
At a party where alcohol had loosen a few tongues, we found there was gold to be found in the creeks flowing into the Buller River. After making sure there wasn't any claims on the creeks, we went and explored the area, sure enough at spot x, we found some gold, not enough to get rich, but enough to have fun panning and sluicing.We have had a few fun days there but wanting to go to other areas.
We planned an overnight stay at the Lyell camp and used it as a base. We got there early and set up camp, then off to river to find some colour. the first 700metres looked to me hammered so we kept going until we found a likely spot.Titan quickly found a crack that looked liked it hadnt been touched, and sure enough he was pulling pan after pan from it.....bloody tin arse! As for myself I found a bit of color in a small overhang and sluiced for all that I was worth. Got back to camp and starting cooking some tea when we noticed a guy coming out from the track loaded with metal detector and gold equipment. After a few beers we got enough courage to go over and have a chat. We quickly found him to be one of the good guys. Got talking about gold (what else) and found that he had been around a bit, especially around the Blackball area. So we had found our next place at Moonlight Creek, once my fingers recover from writing this novel, I'll write about that adventure!

ok rochey red. recovery time is up. part 2 please. very interesting so far.

Thanks for the storey I liked reading it except for the bit were u and ur "freind" went back for some tuggar:)) to much of that and ul go blind.